| Course | CCMH 506 Personality Theories and Counseling Models (CCMH/506) |
|---|---|
| Week | 3 |
| Paper type | Counseling theory application |
| Length | about 1,159 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for CCMH 506 Week 3
Late Nights at the Firm, Unanswered Texts From Friends: A Behavioral Analysis and Activation Plan for Alana
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
CCMH/506: Personality Theories and Counseling Models
Week 3 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The clinic, the client and all details are composites written for a model paper; theories and research findings come from the sources listed.
Earlier papers explored the meaning and history behind Alana's self-criticism. Behavioral therapy asks a different question: what is she doing, and what keeps her doing it? This paper analyzes her behavior and designs an activation plan.
Behavioral Assumptions
Behavioral approaches assume that much of what people do is learned and maintained by its consequences. Behaviors that bring relief or reward tend to continue, even when they cause long-term harm. Depression often involves a cycle in which low mood leads to withdrawal from rewarding activities, which reduces positive experiences and deepens low mood. Avoidance plays a central role: avoiding situations that might bring discomfort brings short-term relief but shrinks a person's life.
Target Behaviors
With Alana, I identified two target behaviors. First, she rechecks and redoes completed work, often staying at the office until ten or eleven at night, four nights a week. Second, she has stopped responding to friends' texts and invitations; she estimated she has declined about a dozen invitations since the breakup.
Functional Analysis
For rechecking, the antecedent is usually finishing a task and noticing a flicker of doubt about an error. The behavior is rereading and revising, sometimes for hours. The immediate consequence is relief: anxiety drops when she feels the work is perfect. The longer-term consequences are exhaustion, no time for friends or rest and a belief that only constant checking keeps disaster away. Because the relief comes immediately and the costs come later, rechecking is strongly reinforced.
For withdrawal, the antecedent is a text inviting her out. She thinks of being asked about the breakup, feels dread and does not reply. The immediate consequence is relief from anticipated embarrassment. The longer-term consequence is loneliness and fewer of the pleasant experiences that might lift her mood, along with a growing fear that friends have given up on her.
Evidence for Behavioral Activation
Jacobson et al. (1996) compared three treatments for depression in a component analysis: behavioral activation alone, activation combined with challenging automatic thoughts, and the complete cognitive package, which added work on core beliefs. All three produced similar improvement when treatment ended and again months later, suggesting that the behavioral component did much of the work.
Dimidjian et al. (2006) randomized adults with major depression to behavioral activation, cognitive therapy, antidepressant medication or a pill placebo. Among more severely depressed participants, behavioral activation performed comparably to medication and better than cognitive therapy, and it retained participants better than medication.
Cuijpers et al. (2007) meta-analyzed studies of activity scheduling for depression and found large effects compared with control conditions and outcomes similar to those of cognitive behavioral therapy, concluding that activity scheduling is an attractive treatment because it is relatively simple to deliver.
The research suggests that changing what Alana does each evening may lift her mood as much as changing what she thinks.
The Activation Plan
Week one: monitoring. Alana will record her activities hour by hour for one week, rating mood and sense of accomplishment and pleasure for each. This baseline will show patterns, such as how her mood after a night of rechecking compares with her mood after a call with a friend.
Weeks two through four: scheduling valued activities. Together we will list activities connected to what she values, including friendship, creativity and faith. She mentioned drawing, gardening with her grandmother and attending church. She will schedule two small activities each week, such as a thirty-minute sketch session on Saturday and a short call to her grandmother on Sunday, building gradually.
Ongoing: limiting rechecking. She will set a rule of one review per document and leave the office by seven, two nights a week at first, recording her anxiety and what actually happens the next day.
Gradual steps toward friends: she will reply to one friend's text with a simple message, then plan a short coffee with her closest friend, using a prepared response if the breakup comes up.
Measuring Progress
Each week we will review the activity log, count nights she left by seven and invitations she accepted and track her depression score on a brief questionnaire. If rechecking fails to decrease, we may add structured exposure, deliberately leaving a minor imperfection uncorrected to test her prediction of disaster.
The Role of Thoughts
Behavioral therapy does not ignore thoughts, but it treats them as behaviors influenced by context rather than as the main target. When Alana says, "If I leave, something will go wrong," a behavioral approach tests it by acting differently and observing the results, rather than debating it in session.
Culture and Context
Alana's work culture rewards long hours, and as one of few Black paralegals at her firm she feels pressure to be beyond reproach. That pressure is real, not a distortion, and a behavioral plan that ignored it would ask her to take risks her colleagues do not face. We will look for the rechecking that adds nothing a supervisor would notice, such as a third pass through a document already reviewed, and cut that first, keeping the checks that genuinely protect her standing. Limits on rechecking must be realistic in her workplace, and we will discuss how to protect her reputation while reducing hours that do not change outcomes.
What the First Week Showed
After one week of monitoring, Alana noticed something she had not expected. On the two evenings she rechecked until late, her mood the next morning was lower, not higher, despite the relief at the time. On the one evening she talked with her grandmother on the phone, her mood was the best of the week. Seeing the pattern in her own handwriting, she said, made the plan feel like her idea rather than mine.
Anticipating Obstacles
Activation plans often stall at predictable points, so we planned for them. If Alana feels too tired after work to sketch, she will do five minutes rather than skip it, since a small action keeps the habit alive. If a friend asks about the breakup at coffee, she has a prepared sentence: "It's been hard, and I'm working on it. Tell me about you." If a supervisor asks her to stay late on a night she planned to leave, she will stay when the request is real but not add her own rechecking on top. Naming obstacles ahead of time turns setbacks into expected parts of the plan rather than proof of failure.
Compared With Earlier Models
Psychodynamic and humanistic work sought understanding and acceptance. Behavioral work seeks change in daily life, measured in hours and invitations. The approaches can complement each other: understanding why perfection feels necessary may make it easier to experiment with imperfection.
Conclusion
A functional analysis shows that Alana's rechecking and withdrawal are maintained by short-term relief at long-term cost. Behavioral activation, supported by a component analysis, a randomized trial and a meta-analysis, offers a practical plan to rebuild rewarding activity and reduce avoidance.
References
Cuijpers, P., van Straten, A., & Warmerdam, L. (2007). Behavioral activation treatments of depression: A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 27(3), 318-326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2006.11.001
Dimidjian, S., Hollon, S. D., Dobson, K. S., Schmaling, K. B., Kohlenberg, R. J., Addis, M. E., Gallop, R., McGlinchey, J. B., Markley, D. K., Gollan, J. K., Atkins, D. C., Dunner, D. L., & Jacobson, N. S. (2006). Randomized trial of behavioral activation, cognitive therapy, and antidepressant medication in the acute treatment of adults with major depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(4), 658-670. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.74.4.658
Jacobson, N. S., Dobson, K. S., Truax, P. A., Addis, M. E., Koerner, K., Gollan, J. K., Gortner, E., & Prince, S. E. (1996). A component analysis of cognitive-behavioral treatment for depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64(2), 295-304. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.64.2.295
What the CCMH 506 Week 3 instructions ask
Week 3 of CCMH 506 often addresses behavioral approaches to counseling. Students are typically asked to explain classical and operant learning principles, describe behavioral assessment such as functional analysis, outline interventions such as behavioral activation, exposure, contingency management and skills training and apply them to a client. Some versions ask how behavioral therapy views the role of thoughts and the past. Identify target behaviors, analyze their antecedents and consequences, design specific interventions with measurable goals, summarize research support and consider how the client's culture and context shape the plan. Explain how you would know the plan is working and what you would add if it is not, and cite scholarly sources in APA style.
How this CCMH 506 Week 3 example is built
Behavioral therapy is the next lens Owen Whitaker brings to Alana Brooks. A functional analysis shows that redoing work late at night relieves her anxiety in the short term but keeps her exhausted and isolated, while withdrawing from friends avoids the risk of judgment but removes sources of pleasure. A component analysis found behavioral activation alone as effective as full cognitive therapy. A randomized trial found activation comparable to medication for more severe depression. A meta-analysis supports activity scheduling broadly. Owen and Alana track activities and mood, schedule small valued activities, set limits on rechecking and plan gradual steps back toward friends, measuring progress weekly with an activity log and a brief depression questionnaire.
CCMH 506 Week 3 grading rubric: where the points go
Behavioral therapy papers earn credit for accurate learning principles, a clear functional analysis and specific, measurable interventions. Instructors look for target behaviors to be defined, for antecedents and consequences to be identified, for interventions to follow from the analysis, for goals and progress measures to be concrete and for research support to be reported accurately. Credit goes to recognizing how avoidance maintains problems and to tailoring activities to the client's values and culture. Vague plans such as "increase positive activities" without specifics lose points, as do activity lists the client had no part in choosing. A brief note on what would be added if progress stalls shows clinical judgment. Every citation and reference entry should follow APA style.
CCMH 506 Week 3 help: mistakes to avoid
Students often describe behavioral therapy as rewards and punishments, missing the careful analysis of what maintains a behavior in a client's life. Another common weakness is choosing activities for the client rather than with her, so they do not fit her values. Some papers skip the functional analysis and jump to interventions. Others give goals no one could measure. Define target behaviors, analyze antecedents and consequences, choose interventions that change those contingencies, set measurable goals and connect each step to evidence. A tutor can help you build a functional analysis table for a client and turn each row into a measurable goal for the plan.
Related CCMH 506 sample papers
Other CCMH 506 week samples
- CCMH 506 Week 1: Psychodynamic and Adlerian Models
- CCMH 506 Week 2: Person-Centered and Existential
- CCMH 506 Week 4: Cognitive Behavioral Therapies
- CCMH 506 Week 5: Interpersonal and Attachment-Based
- CCMH 506 Week 6: Multicultural and Feminist
- CCMH 506 Week 7: Family Systems Theories
- CCMH 506 Week 8: Personal Theory of Counseling
More MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling sample papers
CCMH 506 Week 3 questions, answered
What does CCMH 506 Week 3 usually cover?
Behavioral therapy, including learning principles, functional analysis, behavioral activation, exposure and skills training.
Where can I find a free CCMH 506 Week 3 sample paper?
The CCMH 506 Week 3 behavioral analysis and activation plan for one client is printed above, free.
What is behavioral activation?
A treatment for depression that helps clients increase rewarding, values-based activities and reduce avoidance.
What is a functional analysis?
An assessment of what triggers a behavior and what consequences keep it going, used to design interventions.
Is behavioral activation as effective as cognitive therapy?
Several studies, including a component analysis and a randomized trial, found it comparable for depression.
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